Krista's Care

[daftcat75]

When I see Krista curled up in her tree, sleeping off the morning, I just want to climb in there with her and cuddle the crap out of her. But not really. Now that I know how much crap can be in her. When she was younger and more robust, I used to cuddle her more aggressively. But if I ever cuddled too hard, she'd squeak out a silent one. I call it her stink defense.

It's nice to have a minute or two to work without a cat at the filling station.

 

[daftcat75]

Well that was an easy shift. That makes up for the four box shift from yesterday. (I still only have two boxes.)

She came to the filling station multiple times starting around 3:30 pm.

"Feed me or love me. I'll take either right now."


Finally, about 4:30, she leaps down and goes off to the boxes. A pee and a poop in the same box, and she's done. One normal size, perfect Rawz poop. No further craziness. Even after feeding her, she's just relaxed staring out the window. I think we're done with this feed.


I'd better duck out for my own dinner before her appetite resets in two hours.

 

[daftcat75]

She had a second perfect poop in the middle of the night. Nothing eventful. The overnight went smooth except trying to hold her off to 3.5 to 4 hours between meals instead of the 2 that she would prefer.

This morning, she woke up with her ear bothering her. It’s not affecting her appetite but she does look discomforted by it. Crouching, scratching, head shaking, a little tilt, a little lip licking. I made up a solution of lukewarm chamomile tea with a couple tbsp of apple cider vinegar. I soaked a cotton pad with this and dripped a little into her ear. She was obviously not pleased with this. But this has shown to offer her some relief in the past. She is predictably going to spend the morning under the bookcase now.

 

[WinniesMomma]

Aww. I hope she feels better. I'm rooting for her!

 

[daftcat75]

Hairball. Nearly no collateral damage. Certainly not affecting her appetite. I gave her a slightly smaller portion all the same. Assuming no litterbox disasters between now and next can (maybe one more meal), I think I’ll add the tiniest amount of egg yolk powder to it (a smidgen or 1/64th tsp?).

It’s a frustrating sort of quality problem to have. It’s when she feels really well that she grooms herself a magnificent coat and an equally magnificent hairball.

She’s not looking too bad for having just hairballed. It was a good size. She must be feeling pretty good now. She’s curled up into a ball next to me while we watch my baseball game.

 

[daftcat75]

She’s insatiable this morning. She keeps showing up at the filling station. I’m getting little done. I finally got hungry enough to cook my own breakfast and of course little miss mopey butt kicked into feed me gear. She certainly doesn’t look like an old arthritic cat when it’s meal time.

“Except it’s not meal time. Not for you, little lady. Okay. I give in. Would a distract-a-snack give me peace enough to cook my own breakfast?”


The answer to that is no. I gave her a half portion which she disappeared faster than my next cup of coffee brewed. I expect she will be food inspector and filling station customer all morning.

When will you fill up so I can get some work done?

 

[daftcat75]

Another hairball!

At first it looked like a barf. But when I went to clean it up, the bulk of it came up in one piece. I thought to save that piece to weigh it because I wanted to reassure myself that it was far less than her last meal. But when I finished cleanup and went to weigh it, I noticed that despite lacking the ball shape, it was more hair than food. The other way I know it was a hairball and not an iBD barf? She was still hungry for her next scheduled meal due at this time and cleaned her plate. Didn’t slow down her appetite. Didn’t cause a rabbit grudge.

Probably still going to give her another B12 shot this weekend.

 

[daftcat75]

 

[WinniesMomma]

That's some good sleep!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Another hairball!

Why so many hairballs, you think? I mean she is not a long haired cat???

 

[daftcat75]

Why so many hairballs, you think? I mean she is not a long haired cat???

Start of shedding season maybe? It’s getting warm out here.

She doesn’t let me brush her. I try to take some hair when she shows up in the filling station on the desk. But she tolerates only so much of that. So yeah. She’s on her own with her grooming. She seems to be doing more of it now that the salmon oil is making her coat so luxurious.

The salmon oil? More oil in her diet to bind the hair than before?

As long as it’s just hairballs, I’ll keep working the egg yolk dose back up.

 

[FeebysOwner]

All I know, brushing or not, she is much more of a prolific licker than Feeby!! (That wouldn't take much actually - Feeby is a bit of a bum - only the front half of her gets licked with total regularity, I gotta do the rest with brushings.) Keep on keepin' on, you got it! I was just curious...

 

[daftcat75]

“You must ingest a lot of hair to look this fabulous!”

#thethingsyoudoforbeauty

 

[daftcat75]

I don’t think she was grooming herself as much before as she is now. I think that’s one of the more recent improvements. I don’t realize how much the Christmas ordeal knocked her down until she starts doing things I didn’t notice she had stopped. I didn’t really notice how little grooming she was doing until her coat quality improved. The licking in general is still far less than before. I don’t know if that’s going to change until maybe her next new mouth (the next extractions whenever those might be.)

 

[FeebysOwner]

You must ingest a lot of hair to look this fabulous!”

She DOES look fabulous!!!!

 

[daftcat75]

We're in a stand-off situtation. Or should I say, a crouch-off.


I got an extra hidden camera to cover the blind spot of the front room. Krista has a knack for sitting in those. Turns out, she often crouches just outside of view of the office. She knows I'm in here. Now I know she's out there. Crouched. Like she knows she has me cornered.

She's staring down the poopbox. She has one in the chamber. I can tell because she pulls up from her food halfway when she's got a round to discharge. I'm just waiting her out so I can be done with bathroom duty for this feeding shift. Then I can go out and get my own breakfast.

The way she has me trained.

 

[daftcat75]

“Bye, Krista! Have a good one. I’ll feed you when I get back.”


(Five minutes later)
“I forgot my phone.”


“I did say I’d feed you when I get back, didn’t I? You’re lucky there’s a quarter ounce left in the can. Not enough for a full portion but good enough for your smart-a$$!”

 

[daftcat75]

Woke up to a still retching cat on my bed. I bolted up fast enough to toss that barf grenade so that she'd hairball on floor. Which she did.

I know I'm not giving it a huge amount of time. But her poops aren't firming up on the egg yolk, it didn't prevent the hairball this morning (didn't expect it to yet) and her ears are bothering her again. It sounds like she's got a rattle in her head. I almost wonder if she didn't develop an allergy to egg yolk somehow. I'm going to discontinue the yolk for a few days, and see if her ears clear up. We may have to try lecithin capsules.

 

[WinniesMomma]

How is she doing?

 

[daftcat75]

We stopped the egg yolk and her ears started to clear. No longer hear that rattle sound when she shakes her head. And she’s not shaking her very much anymore.

Until last night. I tried a new supplement with her, a Super Foods from Vitality Science. Well. Something doesn’t agree with her because the head shaking and the ear rattle came roaring back.

Also a hairball this morning. So now I’m wondering if the allergy process that causes the ears, I wonder if that’s also responsible for the hairballs.

Needless to say, we won’t be trying a second dose of the Super Foods. That one is going back.

Aside from still trying to figure out bonus poops and hairballs, she seems alright. Still not gaining weight. But not losing it either.

She’ll get a B-12 shot tomorrow. I was going to give it last week but I was out of syringes. I got more on Tuesday but I’ll wait until tomorrow or Sunday so we can get back on a schedule.